Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

Perrine has decided that she likes playing with used Q-tips (cotton swabs). I've found them on the floor in odd places where I didn't remember dropping them, and lately I've caught her fishing them out of the trash can in the bathroom. I don't mind there being little plastic rings and the occasional plastic bottle-cap in the hall and in the dining room (she gets more excited about the wee toy mice -- and the crinkly things that look like Christmas ornaments -- that are actully designed as cat toys, but those wind up enthusiastically batted behind and under things where I never find them again, while the improvised toys are left where I can find them and throw them again) ... I don't mind the plastic toys-that-look-like-trash scattered about, but I take exception to the distribution of used Q-tips around the house.

But aliza250 will, of course, remind me that I'm getting off easy here. So yeah, I know how much more annoying this could be than just cotton swabs.

Delayed birthday dinner with family was very nice despite how tired I was before I'd even gotten there. Middle-brother (I'm the eldest) and sister-in-law were there -- I really need to get out to Annapolis to see them more often. (Until last night, I'd thought it was just going to be me, Mom, and youngest-brother.) Came home, dealt with litter box, trash, and recycling, tuned in a weather forecast, and found out that a bunch of snow is headed thisaway (5"-10" or 6"-8" depending on which television station's weather forecaster you trust more), which kind of clarifies my plans for the day (but complicates things later in the week when I try to catch up on what I'd hoped to do). Then again, I probably need a day of weather-enforced rest anyhow more than I need to keep pushing myself. (Of course, the rest will be interrupted by snow-shovel work.)

And I found out just how uncoordinated sitting behind a drum kit can make me feel after not having played for an embarrassing length of time. I need to practice a lot ... but living in a row-house, I'm really desiring electronic drums to that the sound could be limited to a pair of headphones. More on that later.

I guess I ought to put clothes back on and move the car to Mount St. ... then again, I'm starting to wonder whether I should attempt to predict whether Baltimore will declare a snow emergency or not.

theferrett, 2005-02-21:

"Secretly, we believe that we understand ourselves. I have the backstage pass to my own mind, the thinking goes. If I don't understand me, who will?

But really, we hide our motivations from ourselves a frightening amount of time. We all like to think we're rational, but look under the hood of the most logical person and you'll find a running, hairy animal, quaking in terror and flooded with pheromones. Truth is, we may know ourselves better than anyone else, but that doesn't mean we know us well. We're very good at tricking ourselves. Frighteningly good.

Woke up to discover that the snow predicted to start 6-ish was not yet reaching the ground in Baltimore. Decided to poke at email and the online user manual for a wireless bridge before crawling out of the warmth of my bed, and just now noticed that we've started getting a few flakes. I'm watching them lazily rise past my window now.

Okay, so it's just a quirk of the wind when it blows into the space between the houses -- the back half of the house is narrower than the front by the width of a window, allowing light into the office, dining room, kitchen, and this bedroom, and each house is a mirror image of the ones on either side -- but it amuses me whenever I look out the bedroom window and see snowflakes swooping upward.

It's as though it's de-snowing, a fun image even if the illusion only works from this angle.

Which of my friends a) has the knack of getting half a key out of a lock, b) lives close enough to make a house call, and c) loves me that much?

No, this is not idle speculation. I'll describe what happened later iff I feel like admitting to it.